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Friday, April 28, 2017

Hello, hello! Today's post is going to be a mash up of finish it up Friday AND day 5 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour. I hope that you were able to finish more than I managed to this week!

My friend, Erin, of Why Not Sew, is the featured stop on the blog tour today. If you aren't familiar with Erin, you really need to go check out her work. She makes beautiful things and she is as sweet as can be! She is sharing the ADORABLE pillow inspired by the mini nines quilt. I hope you go check it out here and enter her giveaway. Thanks so much for following along with the celebration of the book release. I sure appreciate it!

For finish it up Friday today, I had the grandiose idea that I would make a whole passel of mini nine pincushions. Like, 9 of them. (Are you laughing yet?) Late last night, reality set in, as it always does, and I only got the centers pieced. Those blocks are 2", unfinished. Eventually, they will grow up to be finished pincushions....at least that's the hope. :) Although, if I could figure out a way to piece them into a circle, that would be pretty cute, too!

I did finish one lonely little pincushion and I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway to wrap up the week, since this is a celebration, after all. I will be giving away this pincushion....

....and a bundle of scraps, tailored to your tastes. (That is, within reason and within the constraints of my scrap stash.) If you'd like to win a scrap bundle and the pincushion, please leave a comment in this post. In your post, I'd love to hear about your plans for the weekend. (We will be celebrating my baby girl turning 11! Sniff, sniff!) The giveaway for the scraps and pincushion is for US residents only. However, if you are a resident outside of the US, you are eligible to win a digital copy of my book. I will pick a winner for each, so in your comment, if you could please include if you live in or outside the US, that would be most helpful. Thank you!

edited to add: the giveaway is now closed. thanks to all who entered! the winners are posted here.

If you have a finish to share this week, it's time to link up! Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Welcome to day 4 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour! Today Bernie of Needle and Foot is sharing progress on her very own version of the ring me quilt. When she was planning out her quilt, she asked me what I thought of using a dark gray background instead of the white. Being a huge fan of gray, I thought it was a great idea. Although, I must admit that I get very nervous about being responsible for other people chopping up 5 yards of their precious fabric. So, I encouraged her to piece some scrappy strips and do a trial run before she cut into her yardage. It looked amazing on the gray background and she is well on her way. You can check out her progress here..... it is STUNNING! She is also sharing her very organized scrap storage methods and offering up a free copy of the book. I hope you go check it out!

I love BIG quilts made from small pieces. The overall visual impact is second to none!

This is a twin size quilt and it is made from scrappy strings that finish at 1" wide. I love quilts that are made from pure scraps, but I also love quilts that use negative space.

Some of the strings were pieced from tiny little pieces. (Most of them were, because yes, I AM that crazy.) Some of the strings were strip pieced, then cut into segments and sprinkled throughout the quilt top. That method is a little bit faster. :)

After all that piecing, I felt no guilt at all about sending it off for some professional long arm quilting. Steffani did a beautiful job quilting it with a squared off stipple. It was just the right treatment to finish this one off. I don't think that I'm supposed to pick a favorite, but today, I'm pretty sure that this would be at the top of that list!

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Welcome to day 3 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour. Thanks for following along and for all the kind comments this week. I appreciate each one! Today, Sandi Hazlewood is sharing a project she made from her low volume scraps, inspired by the slopes quilt. I had the chance to visit with Sandi via Skype last fall when I was a guest on her podcast. She was so easy to talk to.... I quickly felt like we had known each other for a long time. I had the chance to meet her in real life at Quilt Con in February. I got to give her a big hug and hand her a purple pincushion. (She loves purple!) It was a lot of fun! I hope you go check out her beautiful project here and enter the giveaway.

You probably know that I'm not a fan of purple, but this quilt includes quite a bit of it. (And I still like it. Haha!)

This quilt doesn't have any deep inspiration behind it, I made it simply because my solids scrap bin was FULL. (And it's a pretty big bin....)

This is a string quilt, which means that it uses up a lot of scraps. I actually saw a noticeable dent in the scrap bin after making this quilt. Success! I added one row of small scrappy bits near the top, just because I love tiny pieces! I love that detail of the quilt.

My friend Tara gifted this lovely box of Anna Maria Horner threads many years ago. I always felt like the threads were "too good to use", so I used them very sparingly. When I realized that the they matched my quilt to a T, I knew I HAD to hand quilt it. I'm so glad I did! It was relaxing to sit down and hand quilt after sitting at the sewing machine for several hours each day.

Plus, the texture of a hand-quilted quilt is hard to beat!

I've had some questions about my upcoming events, so I thought I would mention a bit about that today, too.

Check out my website to see where I will visiting throughout the rest of this year. In a few weeks, I will be giving a keynote speech and teaching a class at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts in Cedarburg. You can read more about it and sign up here, if you are so inclined. It would be great to meet you if you are in the area!

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Welcome to day 2 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour! Today the lovely Lee Monroe of May Chappell is sharing a project based on the mini nines quilt from the book. I've had a chance to visit with Lee a few times at Quilt Market and also at Quilt Con this past February. She's just lovely and she does amazing work. Go check out her post for some tiny piecing, her scrap sorting methods and a chance to win a copy of the book!

This quilt was started in July of 2013 and I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be done if I hadn't included it in the book. I needed the deadline! It was definitely a labor of love (or perhaps all out crazy?) but I'm glad that it is finished, not a languishing UFO! I had it draped on the back of the chair yesterday and my husband asked if he had permission to lean on it. Hahaha! He knows it's a special one!

Those tiny pieces in the 9 patch blocks finish at 1/2"! It's quite fun to hear all the gasps when I share this one at trunk shows. It is a good sign that I am living up to my blog name. Ha! I'm not exactly sure how this quilt started out, but I think it was because of a pincushion. My friend Tara said, "wouldn't a whole quilt out of those blocks be amazing? We should do that!" So I did.

Since this one was in progress for so long, I decided that the word perseverance needed to be put on the back. Originally, I wanted to paper piece the word, but I ran out of time, so I wrote it with free motion quilting on a piece of fabric backed with some interfacing instead. It got the point across and it was much quicker.

The biggest lesson I learned in making this quilt is that when you are piecing tiny things like this, it's helpful to make some of the pieces larger, then trim them down. In this case, cutting the borders for each block a touch bigger than needed was very helpful. If only I would have learned that sooner, I would have saved myself a sleepless night or two. But hey, here's to lessons learned! :)

Monday, April 24, 2017

Today I'm excited to kick off a blog tour to celebrate my new book, No Scrap Left Behind! I've asked 10 talented ladies to join me in a celebration of SCRAPS! It's no secret that I find great enjoyment in transforming scraps into beautiful and useful finished objects. I sincerely hope that this blog tour (and book, of course!) inspires you to not only save your scraps, but to actually use them!

As a part of the tour, I asked everyone to share their scrap sorting/storing methods OR their favorite tips/tricks when it comes scraps. (You can see mine here.) These lovely ladies are sewing up some of the quilts and projects from the book, too! Personally, I am looking forward to seeing how others put their own spin on the patterns. I'm sure it will be very inspiring!

Of course there will be prizes, too! At each stop along the way, a copy of No Scrap Left Behind will be given away. If you are a winner and you live with in the US, you will receive a hard copy of the book. If you live outside the US, you will receive a digital copy of the book. Each participant in the blog tour will choose the length of time that their giveaway is open for entries.

Starting things off, is my dear friend, Mary, who is sharing the pincushions that she made from the book. She was my pattern tester for all of the pincushions and she did a great job on every single one. She was also a huge help to me behind the scenes. Last January, when it was time to send the quilts to California for photography, she came over and helped me de-thread, fold, tag and package up the quilts for shipping. She was a lifesaver! It was a HUGE undertaking that was so much easier thanks to the help of a friend. Be sure to check out her work here and enter on her blog to win a free book!

It is no surprise that I LOVE pincushions, so it was only natural to include patterns for several in the book. As much as I love big quilts made from small scraps, I also love small projects made from small scraps!

I also love polka dots, so I used all sorts of them for this pillow pincushion. This is a HUGE pincushion, but I love it because it's harder to lose under piles of fabric. (I speak from experience!)

This one is more of a needle sorter than a pincushion, but it is helpful for differentiating needles that are sharp and still suitable for sewing through fabric from those needles that have been used for sewing through paper and may be slightly dull, but still usable. I love this one to bits!

There are templates included in the book for making the word panels... you an either embroider them by hand or use free motion quilting. I've included printed and cursive words, or your can use your own hand writing, not mine. :)

And finally, I made a few skinny pinnie pincushions--perfect for placing right in front of the sewing machine. These are simple and straightforward, but easy to customize. The possibilities are truly endless.

Friday, April 21, 2017

A few weeks ago, my friend, Anna, generously shared a tutorial for her canvas pencil pouches(available here) and I've been wanting to make some ever since. Actually, she showed the pouches on her blog before that, and I have wanted to make them since then, so it's been awhile! She has such a great style and aesthetic.... it's hard to not want to copy everything she makes. Her work is so inspiring!

I finally took the time to make a pouch yesterday, and I absolutely love it! It was a super fun project! (Incidentally, I used scraps that she gave me to make the pouch. So, double thanks to you, Anna!)

I love the color blocking on the pouch! So many possibilities!

I used zipper tabs to shorten a zipper that I had on hand, which seemed to work out pretty well. I have plans to make many more of these cute little pouches. The next one will probably be full on scrappy. (What a surprise!) I plan to use this one for transporting my rotary cutter and other sharp tools. That is, if one of my kids doesn't take it and claim it for their own. That HAS been know to happen....

This is kind of a silly project, but it will make me laugh for months to come. Awhile back, while I was shopping at SR Harris with my friend, Brianne, we came across this meat fabric by Dear Stella. It's kind of funny (and extremely weird!), so we decided that we needed to purchase some. I offered to turn the fabric into napkins, so we will each have a matching set of 4. They will be perfect for BBQ season!

And.... since no week is complete without the making of a pincushion, I spent some time playing with my tiny triangle scraps and made this cute little thing. (The pattern is in Plenty of Pincushions, Volume 1, which is available here.) I may make a whole series of these, one in each color....I have plenty of tiny triangles ready to go!

Oh! I almost forgot to mention! Next week I will be kicking off a blog tour to celebrate the release of my new book, No Scrap Left Behind. There will be chances to win a copy of the book each day of the tour. I'm excited to officially celebrate the release of the book and show more of what is inside. I hope you will join me.

That's it for me! I hope you have had a good week of finishing! Please link up, and have a great weekend!

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Thank you so much for the great response to my focus quilt! Apparently I won't be making this quilt alone, which is super fun! I will be anxiously waiting to see other versions of it popping up. Thanks to all of you who purchased the templates!

I thought it would be a good time to share some of my methodology when it comes to EPP (English paper piecing). Please remember that this is simply one way of doing things, not the end all, be all. I hope you pick up some tips that will be helpful to you.

Printing and Cutting the Templates:

I have been printing the trapezoid pages only (page 2 of the PDF) on card stock on my home printer. I print a few sheets at a time, as needed, then use a rotary cutter specifically for paper to cut them into strips. This is a great way to use blades that are too dull to cut fabric!

You will notice that this rotary cutter is clearly marked for paper. All of the inhabitants of this house have been instructed and coached about the usage of this and other cutting tools. (Read: my husband!) Ha!

Once the strips are cut, I like to use a paper scissors to cut the shapes apart. I find that it's more efficient to use a scissors for these short cuts. It's quicker than lining up everything with the ruler and rotary cutter. (This is just personal preference!)

I keep all the templates in this cute little box to help keep them organized, otherwise they would be floating all over the place. It's just the right size!

If your home printer doesn't like to print on card stock, you could always take the files to a copy center, like Kinkos or Office Max, and have them print the sheets for you.

I have been using my paper punch (by Fiskars) that I bought at JoAnn's to punch the hexagons. It's so quick and efficient! (And lots of fun, too!) The hexagons measure 1" on each side. Cutting the fabric:

I have been using a 2 1/2" square (or so) for the center blocks. Fussy cut, of course!

I cut the strips for the trapezoids 2 5/8" wide x 20" or so. I like to cut these from fat quarters. If you cut the FQ the long way, it's just the right amount of fabric for the outside pieces of one block. (I love that it worked out that way!)

I started by cutting my strips 2 1/2" wide, but after a few blocks, I determined that I really like having the extra 1/8" in the width of the strip. There is a little more fabric to wrap around the back side of the paper pieces, which makes it easier to work with. Small difference, big results!

Basting:

In this photo you can see how much fabric wraps around the back side of the papers. You may also notice that I trim the edges of the fabric on the hexagon to mimic the shape of the paper. I am a little bit particular and I like to have the back nice and tidy, too. I LOVE my Clover wonder clips for holding the fabric in place while basting. They are wonderful!

I like to thread baste the fabric around the shapes using Aurifil thread. I don't sew through the paper (I never understood that, but to each his own!), I just sew through the fabric. Once the fabric is basted in place, I trim the tails on the trapezoids down to about 1/4". Again, keeping things tidy is helpful!

Sewing the pieces together:

When it comes time to sew the pieces together, I've been using my collection of bobbin threads shown above. (The top one is available here.) It's a great assortment of colors and the thread is nice and thin, but strong. It doesn't tangle easily, either. If I am unable to find something that matches with my fabric from my selections above, I fall back on my trusty Aurifil thread in the color 2600, which blends with almost anything!

The block measures 6" across, and about 5 1/4" tall.

And here's a peek at the back. I could remove the center paper now, if I wanted to, since it is fully enclosed by other pieces, but I decided that I will leave the papers in for awhile yet. I can't wait to have a giant stack of these completed. I'm having SO MUCH fun with this project!

Monday, April 17, 2017

So far in my quilting journey, I've made 3 hand stitched quilts. They are really time consuming, but they are also extra special! Two of the quilts shown below are made from hand appliqued blocks, (which are then machine pieced) and the third one was English paper pieced, which means that it was all hand stitched, except for the binding. The first one is apple cake (center), the second one is oh my stars (right), and the third one, which is one of my most recent finishes, is called dot your i's (left). I love having a photo of all 3 of them together!

Why would someone want to hand stitch a quilt? Well, it's portable, for one. It's relaxing, (at least it is to me!) and it's a great way to slow down, but still have my hands occupied. Plus, it keeps me off my phone.

Earlier this month, I started a new long term project that I'm quite excited about! This quilt was actually my husband's idea. One day while he was at work, he texted me a photo of the bottom of this memo pad. It has a little focus logo thing (inspired by a camera lens) and he told me that he thought it needed to be a quilt! My first reaction was, "oh, my, we are in DEEP!" If my husband is seeing quilts in everyday places, we just MIGHT have a problem. Hahaha!

I held off on starting the quilt for several months, because I already had one long term quilt in progress. Even though it should have been easy, it took me several attempts to draw up the templates correctly. Then, I did some testing to see if I wanted to hand piece it or English paper piece it. After trying both, it was an easy decision to choose English paper piecing.

Here's my first block! Isn't it cute??? I decided that each block will start with a fussy cut center. It's a great way to use all those cutesy fabrics that I collect, but don't use all that often. (The only thing is, fabric selection kind of causes a fabric explosion. Ha! But it's totally worth it!)

Here are my first 6 blocks. I am already having so much fun making this quilt! Since it was my husband's idea, he has a vested interest in this quilt, so he gets to see each and every block. (He's already asked me if he gets to keep it, but I'm not sure that will be happening!)

It's way too early to determine the layout of this quilt, but it's fun to play around. I like them all nestled together like this. I don't think I will start stitching them together until I have A LOT more of them finished. Right now, it's fun to pick fabrics for a few blocks at a time and stitch them up, then repeat the entire process.

As I mentioned earlier, I tried hand stitching a block together with traditional hand piecing methods, but I was SO frustrated. It did not work AT ALL, but at least I tried. Since I didn't want to waste the fabric from my failed test block, I turned it into an itty bitty pincushion. Naturally, right!?!?!

I'm offering the templates for the focus quilt block for sale in my shop. (Available here.) The introductory price is $2.50, good for this week only. Next week the price will increase to $4.

This isn't a full blown pattern, but it includes 4 pages: -one page of the quilt block assembled [2 up] -one page of the trapezoids [16 up] -one page of 1" hexagons [22 up] -one page of step by step diagrams to illustrate block construction

Here are 3 more blocks that I completed over the weekend. I've already got fabric picked out for the next 3!

Friday, April 14, 2017

Last year, my one crafty goal was to knit myself a sweater. It's April, so I did not meet my timeline, but I am still very pleased that my harvest sweater is complete! I am over the moon with the results!!! After blocking the sweater, it has just the right amount of slouch and it feels so cozy. I don't know that I'm going to ever take it off. Hurray!

I am neither a photographer OR a model....so this photo was a huge stretch for me. (Thank goodness for cropping! Ha!) I'm also thankful for my tripod and a certain little girl who happened to be home from school that was happy to assist me. A big thank you to my friend, Suzanne, who suggested early on that I alternate skeins of yarn, which was a huge factor in the success of this piece. Another big thank you to my friend, Tara, who talked me into buying GOOD yarn for this project. It definitely was the right call. (I'm also thankful that my husband concurred and didn't gasp when I told him about how much it would cost. He's a keeper!)

The pattern is called harvest, by Tin Can Knits. I knit it on size 9 and 7 needles. (I had to go up a size to get the required gauge, because I tend to knit tightly.) The yarn is Madelintosh Vintage in the color Fog. This sweater is size Medium. I would highly recommend the pattern!

I didn't have a lot of time to sew this week, and when I did have time, I had a hard time settling into any one project. Don't you hate that? I guess that's all part of the process, as frustrating as that may be.

I did focus long enough to finish my daughter's placemat, which was designed by her and sewn by me. It was a fun project to work on together. I suggested a few times that we add two skinny strips to the top and bottom, to make it a bit more proportionate, but she declared it "just the right size". She's right, it looks just fine.

She picked a fun lime green print for the backing and we chose the navy polka dot binding together. I like how the navy binding ties in with the two navy squares in the middle. She has a good eye, that one! She also loves her Michael Miller Ta-dot fabrics. I can't imagine why.... (ha!)

This piece of patchwork has been floating around the sewing room for way too long. Years! It was high time it became a useful object, so I turned it into a skinny pinnie. It measures about 2" x 9.75", which is a great size to nicely fit in front of a sewing machine. I'm on a mission to fill up my "candy" bowl with pincushions again.... it's going to be so much fun!

Now, it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you for joining me for finish it up Friday. It wouldn't be the same without you! Have a great weekend! xo﻿

Monday, April 10, 2017

Last night I finished knitting my very first sweater! I'm so excited that this project is ALMOST done! I had to laugh, because after I cast off the second sleeve, I tried on the sweater and THEN I realized that one cuff was about 3 rows shorter than the other. I had measured, but apparently not carefully enough! Doh! I decided to shorten the first sleeve rather than try to splice in a new strand of yarn on the second sleeve. My kids told me to just leave it, and that no one would even notice, but apparently they don't know me at all. Hahaha! Of course I had to fix it!

I have heard about blocking sweaters, but I didn't know much about it, so I used this helpful tutorial from Tin Can Knits. This morning I soaked my sweater with Eucalan (which was purchased at my local quilt/yarn shop) and now it is blocking. I found it kind of odd to place it on cardboard, but I guess it works.

I can not wait until it dries so I can wear it! Thankfully (?!?) we still have plenty of chilly mornings ahead of us, so I should have an opportunity to wear it this season.

I will try to get some photos of me wearing it, eventually! (Although I'm not looking forward to modeling it. Ha!)